


In the Light

by Anonymous



Series: Winx Stories [14]
Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV), Winx Club
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble, F/M, Getting Together, One Shot, pining Riven, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29718828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "So," she begins, "people think Beatrix had you wrapped around her finger pretty tight."He swallows. "Is that what people think?""Mm. It's not true though, is it?"
Relationships: Musa/Riven (Winx Club)
Series: Winx Stories [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137782
Comments: 11
Kudos: 133
Collections: Anonymous





	In the Light

"Though I'd find you here," Musa says, pulling apart the tree branches and appearing amongst the fallen crumbs of cedar bark. 

Riven looks at her; how she parts the forest, splits it open so easily, just like she does to him. "You came looking for me, you mean." He spits bitterly, playing with the dry end of his cigarette. 

She doesn't deny it. "Pretty much." She sighs, and the trees close behind her as she releases the branch, and it's just the two of them now, in the clearing, surrounded by the green and the forest. She looks around for a place to sit, but there's only the rock and Riven's sitting on it. 

She doesn't care. She comes over to him, shoves at him until he has no choice but to give her an inch. No choice but to relinquish his territory to her. She wins. She always wins this game. She perches beside him, and they're pressed together. Ankle to knee, hip to shoulder. Their coats rustle as they touch. 

Riven moves his cigarette to his other hand. Doesn't want to burn her.

"So," she begins, "people think Beatrix had you wrapped around her finger pretty tight." 

He swallows. "Is that what people think?"

"Mm. It's not true though, is it?" 

His throat is dry. He looks ahead at the tree line and imagines shapes in their hollows. 

"You knew better, Riven. You knew it was the wrong choice, but you made it anyway. I don't doubt that she influenced you, she's pretty great as far as manipulating people goes, but I _know_ how strong you are. Everyone else is gonna believe she led you astray, but I know." 

She does know. It's a relief, as much as her words cut him. Restrict his airflow. Make it hard for him to breathe. Ever since Dowling's return, Beatrix and Rosalind are behind bars and the gossip is spreading, like water, putting out fires. People are looking for a way to forgive the traitors- Riven included. It's nice, it's easy to douse it out with mind-control. Sure, why not? Beatrix _forced_ people to betray their own. Riven didn't have a say. 

Must knows better. 

She knows he knew better. 

" _Why,_ Riven?" She asks, and it's the first time she's talked to him in months. Ever since he worked with Beatrix to lock Bloom up, to strap those iron casings around her wrists and dampen her powers-

"I don't know why." He says, voice numb, but she scoffs and doesn't buy a word of it. " _Fine._ Because she...was nice to me." As pathetic as that sounds, it's the truth. "I had a sense of belonging when I was with her. I wasn't so fucking alone, Musa. I just wanted to be a part of something-"

"You were one of us-"

"No," he laughs, bitter, and takes another drag. "I wasn't." 

Her lips downturn, pursed and sad, and he thinks of all the times she invited him to lunch, or brought him extra-bagels, or saved him a slice of pizza. Food had been her love language for him. Neatly packed lunches on the Specialist grounds, extra hash browns at breakfast, a chocolate bar in her pocket always ready to be split into two. _Made for sharing_ the silver wrapping would say, glinting in the moonlight on their midnight walks. 

"Well, _you_ were the only one who ever wanted me around." He amends.

She has sense enough not to disagree. "When did that stop being enough?" She asks quietly. 

"When you found someone else."

She looks at him blankly for a moment, before her eyes purple in realisation. "Sam?"

He turns away. Lets her put all the pieces together.

Eventually she says, "Oh, _Riven."_ And it's tender and disappointed. Just like he knew it would be. "I never stopped wanting you. I never treated you any differently." 

Her hand touches his wrist, and it burns so he pulls away. But he doesn't leave the rock. Their island in the clearing. He won't leave her stranded here. "You didn't want me the way I want you."

"So, you don't get the girl and decide to side with the enemy?" 

"Easier to be a villain." He shrugs.

"Bullshit." She laughs, "I can _read_ you. Spurned lover doesn't suit you."

"It couldn't, could it?" He sneers, "considering I was never your lover."

He turns to her then, and their faces are close, and he knows she broke up with Sam and she found him here, in the clearing, and she tore open the trees and all his defences. 

She touches his cheek and her fingers are warm in the cold. "I want you, Riven." She says, eyes glinting with summer light.

It's not enough. "How? I can't go back to being your friend." 

"No," her voice is amused, "I can see that." She sighs, and curls her hand around his arm, linking them together. "Luckily, I want you more than that. It's a win-win that it'll keep you on the light side."

"I don't deserve you." He says, and he feels raw and exposed, and it's a fucking warning because he's a mess, a travesty, really, and he'll fuck up more times than she can handle. 

She doesn't deny it, but she rests her head on his shoulder like he's worthy anyway. "Not yet, because honestly: you suck as a person right now. But I know you. The real you. He's a hell of a guy." 

He hopes she's right. Thinks she might be. He can feel it, sometimes, the good in him, desperate and shy and wanting to surface.

So he puts his cheek on her hair, and puts out his cigarette and closes his eyes. 

**Author's Note:**

> Been a hot minute, just wanted to write a lil something. 
> 
> love you guys


End file.
